It is a hard thing for intellectuals to acknowledge benefits from their rich moral inferiors who never so intended it.

Politicians in their hubris who believe they can ignore debt or wish it away are sorely disappointed - as we see now with the plummeting approval ratings of both the administration and Congress.

So why, after prior successes, did Obama's race/class/gender attack finally sputter out like the French at Waterloo?

After three elections, voters finally caught on that Obama's faults were not in the stars, but in himself. They apparently tired of the usual distractions from a dismal presidential record.

Offering 'comprehensive' reform usually means years of arguing and horse-trading among pressure groups to get anything done. By the time all the special interests are appeased or bought off, the resulting elephantine legislation typically looks nothing like what was intended. In short, big-government medicine usually doesn't work on big-government sickness. If President Obama wants 'comprehensive' change, it would be better simply not to spend any more money we don't have.

I saw more stupid people in graduate school and three decades in academia than I ever did who ran 100 acres without going broke.

I think everybody realizes some things went wrong in the Middle East and that most of the terrorism is emanating from that area.